On a side note, the people on the Criterion Facebook page are scavengers for what ever info we post here, huh? A few minutes after posting what I thought was the answer, everyone mentions the bee scene in Rushmore or is it just a coincidence?

Anyways, I think we should start posting erroneous info just so everyone could share wrong info on the Facebook page.

Rushmore and Renoir Blu upgrades (maybe a Renoir double bill even, Boudu with Rules?) on top of the Kieslowski set almost makes me wish for the sake of my wallet that the two or three as yet unannounced Monday titles won't be of interest to me.

A month or so back, I seem to remember Criterion asking on Facebook "which would you rather see, Decalogue or "The Three Colors?" This was after we knew that the trilogy would be coming out. Is it too much to dream that both could come out?

I think Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou all need(ed) new transfers for Blu-ray releases, that may be one reason why it has taken so long to get any of them. We should be happy that Disney renewed the deal with Criterion and didn't license these titles to Mill Creek.

Criterion posted these images over a year ago, and nothing ever came of it. If it implied Tenenbaums, as was assumed, there must have been some major production delays. Perhaps it will come alongside Rushmore.

I would imagine that Criterion has licensed the rights to Rushmore and the other Wes Anderson titles owned by Disney this time around. The previous editions were work for hire done for Buena Vista. If this is the case, hopefully that means they'll have the custom blu ray cases, drop the slipcovers and the studio mandated featurettes (Starz on Set! etc)

It could explain why it's taken longer than most people thought to upgrade these titles and the stock issues with Rushmore that has plagued the title for the last few years.

Criterion posted these images over a year ago, and nothing ever came of it. If it implied Tenenbaums, as was assumed, there must have been some major production delays. Perhaps it will come alongside Rushmore.

They used that art for The Darjeeling Limited. The Indian, snake, and cactus are in the booklet and the sleeping dog is on the Bengal Lancer menu.

Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums have to be the two biggest no-brainer upgrades in the catalog from a pure sales standpoint. The fact that we haven't seen them yet suggests that there are distribution/rights issues behind the delays.

They used that art for The Darjeeling Limited. The Indian, snake, and cactus are in the booklet and the sleeping dog is on the Bengal Lancer menu.

Ah. I guess that puts the kibosh on the notion that The Royal Tenenbaums is necessarily coming soon, but with the path cleared by Rushmore, I still suspect we'll see it eventually.

I know that Buena Vista collaborated and handled the distribution of the Tenenbaums release, but didn't Criterion do Rushmore themselves (with distribution via Image)? It doesn't have the studio-friendly slipcase or Buena Vista price point.

agnamaracs wrote:

I'm pretty sure Chasing Amy and Chungking Express are the only two from Miramax.Straw Dogs and the Hitchcocks are either owned by, or licensed to, MGM.

So this leaves the Wes Andersons, the Michael Bays, and for some reason, Terminal Station? (How did they get it? What branch?

You are correct that those two are the only Miramax titles. The Andersons and Bays came about due to lobbying by their directors. Straw Dogs, the Hitchcocks, and Terminal Station were all David O. Selznick productions. The Selnick library was purchased ABC, whose library was later purchased by Disney. In the past 15 years, Disney has licensed the ABC library to Anchor Bay, then Criterion, and now MGM. Terminal Station remains in print because, although Criterion worked with Disney to get original elements, the film has actually fallen into the public domain.

Not that it really matters but the Image website only lists The Darjeeling Limited and Bottle Rocket. The lack of slipcover and higher price point is probably more a result of Buena Vista keeping the cheaper mass retail version of Rushmore in print and keeping Criterion's pricing structure for the "collector's" edition. Anyone remember when the Criterion version of Armageddon was available in Canada and they priced it at msrp 99.99? Amazon used to have it for sale for $70. (Still doesn't beat In the Mood For Love which originally had a Canadian MSRP of $110)

They used that art for The Darjeeling Limited. The Indian, snake, and cactus are in the booklet and the sleeping dog is on the Bengal Lancer menu.

Ah. I guess that puts the kibosh on the notion that The Royal Tenenbaums is necessarily coming soon, but with the path cleared by Rushmore, I still suspect we'll see it eventually.

I know that Buena Vista collaborated and handled the distribution of the Tenenbaums release, but didn't Criterion do Rushmore themselves (with distribution via Image)? It doesn't have the studio-friendly slipcase or Buena Vista price point.

Even though Rushmore had an Image UPC number I think Buena Vista handled distribution. It was available on the Disney web store (where they only sold their stuff) and was briefly packaged with High Fidelity (for whatever reason) as one of those combo deals way back when. Also, to get super geeky, all of the contents (the cover, the booklet, the map, and the disc) have Buena Vista item numbers hidden in the corners. I think Criterion ultimately did these editions but Disney handled the manufacturing and distribution (with the ABC films, Terminal Station and Chungking being the exceptions.)